Salen–scandium(III) complex-catalyzed asymmetric (3 + 2) annulation of aziridines and aldehydes

• Linqiang Wang and
• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1087–1094, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.86

• carboxylate groups followed by a ring opening of the aziridine ring, forming azomethine ylide intermediates A. The intermediates A further undergo a [2 + 3] annulation (or cycloaddition) with aldehydes 2 through endo transition state TS to generate intermediates B, which release products 3 with regeneration

Recent advances in synthetic approaches for bioactive cinnamic acid derivatives

• Betty A. Kustiana,
• Galuh Widiyarti and
• Teni Ernawati

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1031–1086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.85

• relatively new prima donna of functional groups explored in drug design, were smoothly prepared. 2.4 Miscellaneous reactions Cyclopropenone, the smallest Hückel aromatic system, has been subjected to the ring opening reactions, driven by the release of ring strain. Numerous transformations of cyclopropenone

• bond of cyclopropenone to give a cyclic intermediate 316 (Scheme 74A) [125]. On the other hand, Wu and co-workers (2022) developed a Pd-catalyzed selective ring-opening of cyclopropenones and vinyl epoxide 318 to give the corresponding esters 319–321 in good yields via a π–allyl palladium intermediate

• 323 (Scheme 74B) [126]. In addition, Sun and co-workers (2020) utilized diphenylcyclopropenone (309) and nitrones to access the corresponding imides 324–327 via a Ag-mediated β-carbon elimination promoted ring-opening reaction involving species 328 and 329 (Scheme 75A) [127]. The method could be

Harnessing tethered nitreniums for diastereoselective amino-sulfonoxylation of alkenes

• Shyam Sathyamoorthi,
• Appasaheb K. Nirpal,
• Dnyaneshwar A. Gorve and
• Steven P. Kelley

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 947–954, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.78

• regioselective, diastereoselective, and metal-free protocol for alkene amino-hydroxylation, which compared favorably to prior art in this area [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Naturally, we wondered if other O-nucleophiles were competent in the ring-opening of the aziridinium intermediate. Indeed, almost all

Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• ) and (3 + 2) cyclization strategies. Two distinct pathways were established: (1) The titanium-catalyzed ring opening of bicyclobutane (BCB) 32 generates a γ-carbonyl radical intermediate Int-42, which undergoes trapping by vinylazide 33. Subsequent dinitrogen extrusion produces an iminyl radical

Light-enabled intramolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition via photoactivation of simple alkenylboronic esters

• Lewis McGhie,
• Hannah M. Kortman,
• Jenna Rumpf,
• Peter H. Seeberger and
• John J. Molloy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 854–863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.69

• excitation [66][67], product derivatization was explored (Scheme 2A). While initial efforts for oxidation proved challenging, due to a competing retro-aldol ring-opening reaction, employing a buffered system enabled access to β-alcohol 5. Given the previous power of trifluoroborates in cross-coupling

Entry to 2-aminoprolines via electrochemical decarboxylative amidation of N‑acetylamino malonic acid monoesters

• Olesja Koleda,
• Janis Sadauskis,
• Darja Antonenko,
• Edvards Janis Treijs,
• Raivis Davis Steberis and
• Edgars Suna

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 630–638, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.50

• under Pd-catalyzed hydrogenolysis afforded diamino acid ester 14 (75% yield) that was likely formed by ring-opening of the unstable N-unprotected 2-aminoproline followed by the reduction of the open-chain imine tautomer. Likewise, the open-chain amino alcohol 15 was formed also upon the reduction of the

Formaldehyde surrogates in multicomponent reactions

• Cecilia I. Attorresi,
• Javier A. Ramírez and
• Bernhard Westermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 564–595, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.45

Synthesis of the aggregation pheromone of Tribolium castaneum

• Biyu An,
• Xueyang Wang,
• Ao Jiao,
• Qinghua Bian and
• Jiangchun Zhong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 510–514, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.38

• is a destructive stored product pest. The aggregation pheromone of this pest was prepared via a new and effective strategy. The key steps include the ring-opening reaction of chiral 2-methyloxirane, the stereospecific inversion of chiral secondary tosylate, Li2CuCl4-catalyzed coupling of tosylate

• -amine reduction and tosylation from diethyl (S)-2-(hex-5-en-2-yl)malonate ((S)-6). The stereocenter in geminal ester (S)-6 could be derived from (R)-2-methyloxirane ((R)-2) via a ring-opening reaction and a stereospecific inversion of the chiral secondary tosylate (R)-5. Following the similar procedure

• for (4R,8R)-1, the other constituents of the aggregation pheromone (4R,8S)-1, (4S,8R)-1 and (4S,8S)-1 could be prepared. Based on the retrosynthetic analysis of the aggregation pheromone (4R,8R)-1, our synthesis began with the preparation of chiral tosylate (S)-10 (Scheme 2). The ring-opening reaction

Streamlined modular synthesis of saframycin substructure via copper-catalyzed three-component assembly and gold-promoted 6-endo cyclization

• Asahi Kanno,
• Ryo Tanifuji,
• Satoshi Yoshida,
• Sota Sato,
• Saori Maki-Yonekura,
• Kiyofumi Takaba,
• Jungmin Kang,
• Kensuke Tono,
• Koji Yonekura and
• Hiroki Oguri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 226–233, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.14

• degassed solvent and light-shielding flask, the oxidative conversion of 12 to the imidate 18 proceeded smoothly. Notably, the transient intermediate 18, exhibiting a sky-blue fluorescence, further underwent a ring opening to afford the tetracyclic 14 with the simultaneous regeneration of both a nitrile and

• a fluorescent intermediate 18, and subsequent ring opening allowed a streamlined one-pot access to the substructure of THIQ alkaloids 14 in a good yield of 60% from 11. The structure of the resulting 14 was elucidated through comprehensive two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy, complemented by NOE

• followed by cascade oxidative conversion and ring opening giving rise to the skeleton 14. Streamlined synthesis of the substructure 14 for saframycins 1 within just four steps in overall 29% yield. This concise modular synthetic process involves copper(I)-catalyzed three-component coupling, sequential

Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

• the final step of the reaction, ring opening by the C–C bond cleavage yields the desired product 203. The first phosphoric acid C39-catalyzed asymmetric cycloaddition–elimination cascade reaction of 2-naphthol or phenol enamide derivatives 204 with azonaphthalenes 205 was done by Xu et al. in 2021

Hot shape transformation: the role of PSar dehydration in stomatocyte morphogenesis

• Remi Peters,
• Levy A. Charleston,
• Karinan van Eck,
• Teun van Berlo and
• Daniela A. Wilson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 47–54, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.5

• ring-opening polymerization of N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs), following a protocol adapted from Tian et al. [28]. High-purity monomers were obtained using this method, ensuring the subsequentially polymer synthesis proceeded with minimal impurities. Sequential polymerization commenced with poly(benzyl

• the vesicles at higher temperatures. d–f) Vesicles after shape transformation: illustrated at 60 °C, 70 °C, and 80 °C, respectively. i) Synthesis of benzyl glutamate NCA using phosgene and propylene oxide as a scavenger. ii) Ring-opening polymerization of BnGluNCA using benzylamine as initiator. iii

• ) Synthesis of sarcosine NCA starting from Boc-protected sarcosine using phosgene and propylene oxide as a scavenger. iv) Ring-opening polymerization of Sar NCA using the benzyl glutamate homopolymer as macro initiator. Supporting Information Supporting Information File 70: Experimental part and additional

Germanyl triazoles as a platform for CuAAC diversification and chemoselective orthogonal cross-coupling

• John M. Halford-McGuff,
• Thomas M. Richardson,
• Aidan P. McKay,
• Frederik Peschke,
• Glenn A. Burley and
• Allan J. B. Watson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3198–3204, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.265

• chromene (12) were tolerated. Benzylic azides were accommodated including those bearing nitro (2), iodo (3), and boronic ester groups (5, 21). Strained rings were effective including cubane (18) and bicyclopentane (20). While 18 and 20 were isolated in lower yield, no evidence of ring opening was observed

Synthesis of 2H-azirine-2,2-dicarboxylic acids and their derivatives

• Anastasiya V. Agafonova,
• Mikhail S. Novikov and
• Alexander F. Khlebnikov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3191–3197, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.264

• azirine dicarboxylic acid 6j, oxazole-4-carboxylic acid 9 was isolated. Apparently, azirine 2j underwent ring opening at higher temperature to nitrile ylide 7, which after cyclization and hydrolysis gave acid 9 (Scheme 3) (cf., e.g. [23]). Next, given that the preparation of 2H-azirine-2-carboxamides from

Advances in the use of metal-free tetrapyrrolic macrocycles as catalysts

• Mandeep K. Chahal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3085–3112, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.257

• , with TBAI as a co-catalyst, up to 74% yields (Table 1). The inactivity of porphyrin 18 was attributed to the inaccessibility of the inner core imine due to its planar structure. The mechanism of the epoxide ring-opening reaction was elucidated by DFT calculations, which suggested that the macrocycle

• state stabilizes the anionic species generated during the reaction pathway and facilitates a backside attack of I− on the epoxide thus resulting in the initial ring opening (Figure 4b). Apart from acting as an organocatalyst, calix[4]pyrrole 11 has been used for the promotion of cuprous chloride

• (Table 5). DFT calculations predicted that the catalytically active species is the adduct of porphyrin and TBACl (18-I), which forms an activated complex (18-II) with the substrate followed by a ring-opening nucleophilic attack of Cl−. The electron-rich nitrogen atom in 18-III further activates

Cyclodextrin-based rotaxanes for polymer materials: challenge on simultaneous realization of inexpensive production and defined structures

• Yosuke Akae

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3026–3049, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.252

• , [3]rotaxane diol 10 was used as the initiator of the controlled ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone in the presence of a diphenyl phosphate catalyst to introduce the polyester main chain into the rotaxane framework; the successive end-capping reactions yielded macromolecular [3

Advances in radical peroxidation with hydroperoxides

• Oleg V. Bityukov,
• Pavel Yu. Serdyuchenko,
• Andrey S. Kirillov,
• Gennady I. Nikishin,
• Vera A. Vil’ and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2959–3006, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.249

Recent advances in transition-metal-free arylation reactions involving hypervalent iodine salts

• Ritu Mamgain,
• Kokila Sakthivel and
• Fateh V. Singh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2891–2920, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.243

• diaryliodonium salts 40 (Scheme 18) [69], which however, does not produce the diarylated compounds. The intramolecular aryl migration from the iodine to the nitrogen leads to a quaternary ammonium ion intermediate A. Consequently, a nucleophilic ring opening of cyclic amine in 42 occurred via cleavage of the

• strong C–N bond. The ring opening incorporated nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, carbon, and halogen-containing nucleophiles and their derivatives. The substrate scope was examined with numerous aryl groups on iodonium salts 40 and the progress of aryl migration happens fruitfully by considering electronic

• factors like steric hindrance. The ring opening proceeded smoothly when nucleophiles with higher nucleophilicity are used yielding up to 99% of the desired products 43. The N-arylation of amino acid esters 44 was established with the utility of substituted phenyl(anisyl)iodonium triflate salts 45 (Scheme

Computational design for enantioselective CO₂ capture: asymmetric frustrated Lewis pairs in epoxide transformations

• Maxime Ferrer,
• Iñigo Iribarren,
• Tim Renningholtz,
• Ibon Alkorta and
• Cristina Trujillo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2668–2681, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.224

• by a red sphere. (B) Schematic representation of the two possible ring-opening reactions of PO in the presence of activated CO2. Symmetric FLP scaffolds considered in the first study. X denotes N or P. Subset of FLP scaffolds considered in the catalyst optimisation study. Substituents and labels are

Hypervalent iodine-mediated cyclization of bishomoallylamides to prolinols

• Smaher E. Butt,
• Konrad Kepski,
• Jean-Marc Sotiropoulos and
• Wesley J. Moran

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2455–2460, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.209

• , the iodane moiety in 12 is eliminated by an intramolecular attack by the amide nitrogen to form the aziridinium 13. Finally, ring-opening by SN2 attack of trifluoroacetate leads to the final product 14 [20]. In this case, the kinetic pyrrolidine product is obtained due to the electron-withdrawing

Facile preparation of fluorine-containing 2,3-epoxypropanoates and their epoxy ring-opening reactions with various nucleophiles

• Yutaro Miyashita,
• Sae Someya,
• Tomoko Kawasaki-Takasuka,
• Tomohiro Agou and
• Takashi Yamazaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2421–2433, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.206

• -to-handle reagent, NaOCl·5H2O. Because very little has been disclosed about the reactivity of such 2,3-epoxyesters, their epoxy ring opening by a variety of nucleophiles was carried out and we succeeded in clarifying these chemo- as well as regioselective processes proceeding via the SN2 mechanism to

• is the high regio- and stereoselectivities of its epoxy ring opening specifically occurring at the 2 position in an SN2 manner, when it is treated with appropriate nucleophiles (Nu), leading to the formation of the 2-substituted 3-hydroxyesters with 2,3-anti stereochemistry. These characteristic

• preparation of 2a. Moreover, the fact that only very limited examples are known for their synthetic application except for the synthesis of 4,4,4-trifluorothreonine [29][33], stereoselective ring opening with organometallic species [29], and so on [32] also stimulated our interest. In this article, we would

Natural resorcylic lactones derived from alternariol

• Joachim Podlech

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2171–2207, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.187

Multicomponent syntheses of pyrazoles via (3 + 2)-cyclocondensation and (3 + 2)-cycloaddition key steps

• Ignaz Betcke,
• Alissa C. Götzinger,
• Maryna M. Kornet and
• Thomas J. J. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2024–2077, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.178

• phosphane ligands is crucial for the selectivity in this reaction. Suzuki coupling can also serve for the functionalization of iodochromones 55, which, as α,β-unsaturated ketones, undergo ring opening under the reaction conditions, followed by Michael addition–cyclocondensation. Xie et al. devised a method

• -unsaturated ketone with hydrazine and acetic acid forms a 1-acylpyrazoline, while the chromene moiety and hydrazine form the pyrazole nucleus by ring opening/ring closing cyclocondensation. Upon oxidation with DDQ, the pyrazolylpyrazoline products can be readily converted into the corresponding bispyrazoles

• dihydropyridines, specifically 3,5-acyl-1,4 dihydropyridines 77, are well suited for undergoing ring opening-ring closing cyclocondensation with hydrazine in a pseudo-multicomponent reaction to give bis(pyrazolyl)methanes 78 (Scheme 28) [106]. Interestingly, the use of ester derivatives leads to the formation of

Radical reactivity of antiaromatic Ni(II) norcorroles with azo radical initiators

• Siham Asyiqin Shafie,
• Ryo Nozawa,
• Hideaki Takano and
• Hiroshi Shinokubo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1967–1972, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.172

• ]. Moreover, the ring-expansion or ring-opening reactions of Ni(II) norcorroles are induced by an activated zwitterionic intermediate [22], oxidants [23][24], and carbenes [25][26]. During the last decade, the various reactivities of Ni(II) norcorroles have been elucidated. However, the reaction with radical

• core. For the byproducts, 3a would be generated through the quenching of radical I with a hydrogen atom source. Bisdipyrrin 4a could be formed through the ring-opening reaction of I by the homolytic cleavage of the C(sp2)–C(sp2) bond to radical II, the addition of the isobutyronitrile radical, and

Solvent-dependent chemoselective synthesis of different isoquinolinones mediated by the hypervalent iodine(III) reagent PISA

• Ze-Nan Hu,
• Yan-Hui Wang,
• Jia-Bing Wu,
• Ze Chen,
• Dou Hong and
• Chi Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1914–1921, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.167

• radical clock experiment was carried out with 1d under the optimal reaction conditions, resulting in the formation of 2d in 54% yield, and no cyclopropyl ring opening products were observed. This result suggested that no radical intermediates were generated during the reaction (Scheme 5). According to the

2-Heteroarylethylamines in medicinal chemistry: a review of 2-phenethylamine satellite chemical space

• Carlos Nieto,
• Alejandro Manchado,
• Ángel García-González,
• David Díez and
• Narciso M. Garrido

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1880–1893, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.163

• envisaged by Heffernan et al. [40], including human TAAR1 agonist activity and structural evaluation via homology model development followed by molecular docking and molecular dynamics studies (Scheme 6). Structural features like sulfur location and ring opening of the aminoethyl section were investigated